Rise and Shine (Shine On Series, Book 2) (31 page)

“Did you get the bacon grease too hot?” she asked, scanning the room for a fire.

“I guess. The son of a bitch just started smoking like the devil.”

She couldn’t stop the laugh the bubbled up in her chest. He gave her an annoyed look. “I’m glad something about this amuses you.”

For just a second he looked just like Silas. She stopped laughing.

“I’m sorry. Trick. Here, let me help. Mama always said you weren’t a good cook until you’d had at least one fire… I think this can count as your right of passage.”

Emmie made quick work of turning off the flame and moving the skillet to the sink. Trick reached over her and turned on the water.

“No…” she screamed, pushing away his arm, laughing again. “That’s hot grease.”

“Yeah. And I’m going to cover it in cold water to make it not hot.” He tried to spell out for her like he knew what he was doing.

Emmie put her arm out and pushed him back further. Instead she grabbed a kitchen rag and covered the pan in an attempt to keep the smoke out of her face. “Water and hot grease don’t play well together.”

“Huh…” he said, pouring her a cup of coffee. “Sorta like you and my brother.”

“Actually that’s a pretty good analogy, Trick.” She laughed.

“I just can’t figure out who’s the hot grease.” He took a swig from his own cup.

“Oh that’s easy, it’s him.” Emmie laughed and pulled the drop biscuits out of the oven. “Impressive, Trick.”

“Thanks. I may or may not have taken part in my mother’s cooking lessons with Jemma one summer. And I’m not so sure that the hot grease is Silas…”

Emmie laughed. She supposed he was right. “How many plates do we need?”

“The butcher brothers and Gabe have gone out to take care of something. So it’s just the four of us.”

Emmie pulled out the plates and a couple more coffee cups. “Go get the others, I’ll bring the food to the dining room.”

She mixed up a quick white gravy, plated the food, and took it to the dining room. Silas grabbed a couple of the plates from her as she walked into the room. She let him help.

“You’re not gonna start another food fight are ya? Because I just got dressed.” He grinned.

She wanted to smile but kept it inside. She wasn’t quite ready to let go of this one yet. Just as they sat down to eat she heard heavy boots running through the house. “Silas?” Gabe shouted. “Vince?”

Silas stood so fast his chair hit the floor behind him. “Dining room.”

Gabe came in followed by the butcher brothers. “Steven Johnson wouldn’t let me on his land,” he said, winded. “He said after what Bo told his pop yesterday they weren’t sure who to trust anymore.”

Silas’s eyes darkened. “Did this come from Mr. Johnson or his son-in-law?”

“Steven only. I couldn’t get through to his old man without causing a ruckus. I didn’t know how far you wanted me to push them.”

“How did it go with you?” Silas turned to the butcher brothers.

“Shop’s closed. Locked up tighter than a drum.” The bigger brother spoke crossing his arms over his chest.

“Did that stop you from looking around?” Vince asked.

“Nope.” His brother spoke, “That man is packed and ready to go somewhere.”

Emmie couldn’t believe they were letting her listen to all this. Clearly they had forgotten she was in the room. She understood that the Johnsons wouldn’t let Gabe on site but she didn’t understand the shop reference. Was it Mr. Thomas’s shop? Today was Monday. That greedy man didn’t even close the shop when his own mother passed. She so badly wanted to ask Silas questions about what was going on but she held her tongue.

As if he could read her mind, Silas turned and looked at her, holding his hand up for the others to stop talking. He rubbed his jaw and paused a minute before he spoke. “This is nothing to do with you,” he said, leaving no room for argument.

She held her hands up looking at her plate. “I’m just enjoying my biscuits. Trick’s a good cook.” She smiled.

“Come on.” Vince led the men into the library. Silas stayed behind.

“Thank you.” He said. She knew he understood it was eating her insides not to ask a hundred questions.

She shrugged. “I could maybe help you. I could call the Johnsons. Bo might talk to you, even if the others wouldn’t.”

“If I see him, I may shoot him. Every time I hear his name on your lips I hate him a little more.”

“Well, then let me talk to him. Just tell me what to ask and I’ll do it. If Bo has talked to his Pap, he probably knows more than he did when I saw him yesterday.” She knew he wouldn’t want to hear it.

He clenched his jaw. “I don’t want you involved.”

“Can I ask just one question?”

“No.”

She sighed. “Fine.”

He turned to leave the room.

“I need some clothes.”

“Wear Ava’s,” he said without turning around.

“Silas look at this dress. If you thought those pants were vulgar, this dress is worse. I can hardly move.” She stood for him to take in the full sight of her. “In case you haven’t noticed, I do not have Ava’s body.”

He laughed, “I don’t guess you do.” He rubbed his jaw. “I’ll drive you out there soon. Let me go take care of this first.”

“Silas, I don’t need a babysitter and you don’t have the time for that. I can see you’re busy. I’m not going to go down to that cabin right now without your blessing. Yesterday, I didn’t mean to worry you. I’m not sure I’d be welcome there today anyway. Straight home and back here, I promise.” She conceded to the fact she maybe had not made the best choice yesterday.

Silas rolled his neck. “You’ll call the office when you get back here?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. I’m not sure that you’d be in any danger with these revenuers if you are not near moonshine. I just haven’t figured out their motive and it makes me uneasy.” She couldn’t believe he’d been so honest with her.

“I understand.” She nodded. “I’ll be quick.”

“Good.” Silas wrapped his arms around her quickly and dropped a kiss on her temple before leaving the room.

Chapter Forty-five

T
he walk home from Ava’s house was refreshing. Even Spotty seemed to dance along the familiar path. It had been months since she’d made the trek alone. It was cold but not painfully so. When she reached her house Spotty darted up the stairs and found his scrap bowl. She was surprised he hadn’t cleaned that out before making his way to Ava’s last night. Glancing at the bowl she noticed something odd. A large piece of raw meat. She hadn’t done that. Perhaps one of the neighbors? It was too strange. She couldn’t convince herself to let him eat it. By the time she had pulled him away from the dish, he’d already consumed half of it. Emmie couldn’t say why but something felt off. She brushed the feeling aside and told herself she was just being a coward.

Spotty whined as she pulled him toward the door. Clearly, he didn’t notice anything wrong with the meat. Emmie opened the door and drug the dog in. Spotty was fighting her to get back to his dish. He huffed as he lay in front of the stairs.

She went upstairs, feeling a bit unsettled in her house. The quicker she could get things packed and back to Silas, the better she’d feel. If that made her a coward, so be it. She should have let him drive her. Why did she have to be so darn independent all the time? What did she have to prove? Emmie tossed in her clothes and scurried downstairs. She opened the door and called for Spotty. He didn’t move.

“Spotty,” she said again, walking up to him.

The dog lay lifeless at the foot of the stairs. Her heartbeat sped up. She reached her hand out and touched his neck and called his name again. He still didn’t move.

“Oh God. Spotty.” She shook him. She wasn’t sure if he was alive or dead. She thought she saw a faint movement in his stomach like he’d taken a breath but couldn’t be sure.

She sat on the floor with her back to the open air and gently shook her dog calling his name over and over to no avail.

“Oh no. The meat,” she said to herself. Why had someone hurt her dog?

She turned and ran to the phone. Emmie knew she could probably catch someone at the DeCarmilla house. It hadn’t been that long since she left. When she picked up the phone she noticed the wire had been cut all the way through. Her house, someone had been in her house. Her heartbeat pounded so loudly in her ears it was nearly all she could hear. She had to get out of there.

**********

“Silas, something isn’t right. I just called Mr. Johnson and he said he never told Steven to stop you from coming on his land,” Gabe said, emerging from the office. “They also can’t find him now. This isn’t good.”

Silas smashed out his half finished cigarette and looked at the men that surrounded him. “Steven’s been working for Thomas. Emmie told me yesterday.” He turned to look at the butcher brothers. “You said Thomas is closed and packed up?”

The nodded. His heart sank as he remembered Walter’s last words to him.
Thomas has been asking about Emmie. It ain’t right. You need to take care of something that shoulda already been done.
Silas looked at his watch. She’d been gone twenty minutes. That should be enough time to be in her house. He walked to the phone and rang Emmie. The nasalized voice of the operator came on telling him there was a problem with the line.

“Oh. God,” he said aloud.

“What?” Trick asked, at his side immediately.

“Get in the car,” Silas shouted. He didn’t ask twice. Trick and Gabe filed in with him.

“Vince take them back to that damn store. Search every spot where they could be hiding. When you finish, meet me at the Johnson’s. Their son of a bitch son-in-law is in this deep, I can feel it,” Silas said, running to the car.

“Is that where you’re headed now?” Vince asked.

“No. I’m going to get Emmie,” he said, already starting the car.

**********

Emmie bent down and scooped Spotty in her arms. Dead or not, she wasn’t leaving him here. He was heavy and half as big as she was. She knew she couldn’t carry him the whole way to the DeCarmilla’s but she just felt she needed to get him out of the house. She stepped off the stairs. His body felt warm. Surely that was a good sign, right? She couldn’t give up hope, not now.

“Miss Emmie,” a voice called from the end of the porch.

She looked up and saw it was Steven Johnson. Frozen for only a minute she took in the sight of him: short, stocky, with graying yellow hair. His teeth jutted out in the front like a rat. She ran as fast as her feet could carry her backward down the stairs, carrying the dog. She stumbled down the last one and fell to the ground. Spotty landed on top of her.

Steven swallowed hard. “Miss Emmie, don’t be scared. I came here for your help. Something bad’s happened.” He walked toward her.

“No. Did you do this to him?” Emmie screamed, attempting to get up. “Why?”

“Is something wrong with your dog?” Steven asked.

She didn’t trust him. “Stay away from us. Stop right there.”

He did stop at the top of the stairs with his hands raised in surrender. “Just leave your dog there, Ma’am. You’re gonna hurt him worse if you keep dropping him like that.”

Emmie laid Spotty in the old flowerbed at the corner where the stairs met the porch. He didn’t move. She also hadn’t seen the rise and fall of his stomach since she was in the house. Her heart was broken. Her throat tightened but she couldn’t mourn now or they may both be dead.

“Did you do that to him?” she screamed through gritted teeth walking backward away from him.

“No Ma’am, I wouldn’t hurt your dog. Like I said. I just come for your help. Something bad’s happened. You’re man’s got Bo. Saying he’s gonna kill him because you’ve been running around on him. Mr. Johnson sent me here to see if you could talk some sense in him,” Steven said.

Emmie shook her head. That didn’t add up. She’d just been with Silas. He didn’t have Bo. Plus they hadn’t even been able to get on Johnson land because Steven had stopped them this morning. She opened her mouth to argue with him that his story had no logic but thought better of it. He’d already taken two more steps toward her. It wasn’t the time to argue. It wasn’t time to question. It was time to run.

She turned away from him and ran as fast as her feet would carry her. Her heels stuck in the earth and she kept going. Her bare feet pounded the ground as fast as they would take her. She headed toward the main road. The path to Ava’s was too secluded for this game of chase. Emmie could hear him behind her, yelling her name. Shouting. His loud feet beating the ground with no rhythm as he tried to catch up. But he was older and out of shape and she knew she’d be able to beat him. If it wasn’t for this darn tight dress of Ava’s she’d probably be able to move faster.

There was a car stopped a few yards up the road that appeared to be empty. If only she knew how to drive. Her breath was coming in heavy gulps of air now. She just had to keep herself at this steady pace and she would beat him to town, then there would be help. Emmie worked to stay calm and made a plan in her mind.

She felt the impact before hearing or seeing anything. Emmie tumbled to the ground, gravel dug deep into her arms and legs as she rolled. But the worst of the pain came as the heavy body landed on top of her, taking her breath away for a moment. A scream escaped from her mouth on impulse.